Tired of People Copying Me

[kimmpossible]

Hello. I have been finding it more common and more frustrating that there are so many copycats on Zazzle and Etsy. It is frustrating that I put so much time into a design, then someone creates a VERY similar design and sells it here on Zazzle. Then, I see the same item they created for less money and being advertised by Zazzle. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, is there anything that has worked to get these shops to stop ripping off your hard work? I have attached the most recent example. I don't even think I have had this invitation on Zazzle for a month and someone has already made this very similar invite. I used the same clipart this shop used in some of my other collection designs for this product. They used the same colors and a lot of the same fonts. There was nothing like this for sale before I first posted on Etsy and Zazzle. I came up with the specific colors and fonts and layout. 

Thanks for hearing me out. I know there isn't much I can do, but I am tired of wasting my time creating things, just for someone else to profit off of it.

Kim Wilhite

My InvitationNot My Invitation

[Sara_H]

@kimmpossible

 It happens.

btw - According to the creation time stamp of the invitation by the other designer - it was posted before yours (by a couple of hours)

5/28/2024, 12:32 AM theirs

5/28/2024, 3:54 AM yours

[kimmpossible]

Thanks for your response, Sarah. I first created this design on Etsy to match the pink version I have on Etsy and Zazzle, which was created months before the blue invite. I get that it happens, but it is very frustrating when it has been a good handful of my items. I started designing invitations in 2013 and I know how crazy and random it would be to come up with the same design, same fonts, same colors, same wording, same background color, same clipart (that was used in some of my other matching products). There is just no way it's a coincidence and we both came up with this design. 

[Sara_H]

@kimmpossible I know it's extremely frustrating. Designers will get 'inspired by' best sellers. It happens all the time

[chuamishael]

It isn't exactly look alike, only the color style the and the atmosphere, but  there rest are different, even the cactus looks different, if you said you created it on etsy, it doesn't count. that's a different platform. eventually you will stumble upon creators who might even purchase those art style on another platform. I'm purchasing my clipart, so basically I risk having someone look like mine.  you can even create a parody version of a copyrighted characters with different twist, as long as it doesn't have the same copyrighted name and it is still legit here. 

[Fiorenzo]

Happens. Taking inspiration and ideas from other artists and places is as old as the profession itself. Risk of the job, especially in the digital era, and we all have to live with it. But as a consolation, yours is more professional in execution and pleasant to the eye. If I were the one choosing, I would order yours, even if it costs more.

[CreativeLeahG]

You ask has anyone else experienced this?

Yes ... every high level seller experiences it in the hundreds and thousands, and no, as it's not a direct copy there is nothing you can do. It is very frustrating, but sellers will always be 'inspired'. This isn't the first rodeo invite on Zazzle with this color palette and they are sufficiently different to not be a copy.

Meanwhile re those unscrupulous people who intentionally copy certain sellers ...

We have asked that we can 'turn off' followers as those who like to copy get a nice heads up whenever we post anything new and turning it off would make it a little harder for them. 

[WHS_Designs]

@kimmpossible I had this happen to me not once, but three times recently by the same thief. They even went so far as to duplicate my tags, too. I've reported all three of these copies, but there has been no response to my reports.

These thieves know that unless their ripoffs aren't direct copies, they can get away with mooching and profiting off someone else's creativity.

[Mariholly]

We've all been there. Years ago, I used to make logos for entrepreneurs at reasonable prices, and someone who clearly wasn't a professional came along and even copied my presentation mockups, selling them for 5€. It wasn't concerning because of the quality, but it made me really angry. Here, they copied my best seller, without much success, honestly, it was a poor copy and they even copied a typo from the text... Well, we have to learn to live with it.

[AvisNoelle]

What if the other one was in a different time zone?

[shoshannahscrib]

Hi, I have no helpful feedback to offer but I empathize with you. As others have mentioned, it seems as soon as a design reaches an editors pick or becomes popular it is copied by some other sellers. I design a lot of business cards and I have noticed folks will even copy the imaginary sample name and text I put on them. I started using completely made up weird names just to mess with them haha. Your work is very creative and lovely. Using public fonts and purchased clip art makes it even easier for these losers to copy it, but I also create all my own artwork and do handlettering and people still copy! UGH.

All that being said I have also seen designs that I imagined were a copy of mine and checked their creation date and found that mine was created a year later. That's humbling. Sometimes we all catch the same inspiration without realizing it.

Sorry this is happening to you. 

[Mariholly]

@shoshannahscrib 

I have felt the same way.

Sometimes our brain gets filled with images, images that attract us, that we like, and without realizing it, you can reproduce them. It happened to me once with logos.

They even copied a typo from my text; that also made it clear that it wasn't a coincidence...